Looking for Work: A History of Unemployment
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Length: 00:54:00
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Piece Description
For many millions of Americans, Labor Day will be just another day on the dole. The national unemployment rate has been at more than nine percent for two years now -- something that hasn't happened since the Great Depression.
On this episode of BackStory, the History Guys take on the history of joblessness, and explore what it meant for previous generations of Americans. As they discover, the very concept of "unemployment" is a relatively modern one; the word itself didn’t appear in a government document until the 1880s. So how has the changing nature of employment shaped the experience of not having a job? Have the moral connotations of work evolved? Are people more or less attached to their professions than they used to be? What has it meant for American workers that there are always new immigrants – or poor migrants – who are willing to work for less? What is the connection between war and unemployment? These are some of the questions on the table as the History Guys delve into the experience of looking for work through three centuries of American life.
Highlights include:
* Historian Alexander Keyssar (Harvard University) discusses the origins of the modern concept of “unemployment”…
* Dramatization that highlights the hopes, dreams, and troubles of a migrant laborer in the Pacific Northwest at the turn of the century…
* BackStory listeners weigh in with their questions about the history of unemployment in the U.S.
3 Comments
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Very Enjoyable ShowI'm sure y'all hear this alot, but as a first time listener, I wanted to respond to the quality of the show. The format and concept are great, and I was pleasantly surprised by the inclusion of dramatized and oral historical recordings. As someone looking for work now, it was edifying to gain a larger perspective from listening to this show.
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Very Enjoyable ShowI'm sure y'all hear this alot, but as a first time listener, I wanted to respond to the quality of the show. The format and concept are great, and I was pleasantly surprised by the inclusion of dramatized and oral historical recordings. As someone looking for work now, it was edifying to gain a larger perspective from listening to this show.
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Timing and Cues
SHOW RUNDOWN
00:00 – 00:59 BILLBOARD
IC: From VFH Radio in Charlottesville, Virginia, this is Backstory.
OC: First, the news.
01:00 – 05:59 NEWS HOLE
06:00 – 18:59 SEG A
IC: This is Backstory, with us, the American History Guys.
OC: We’ll be back in a minute.
6:00 – 12:48 The Invention of Employment
18th & 19th Century Guys discuss the economic and social changes that laid the groundwork for the phenomenon of joblessness.
12:48 – 18:59 The Invention of Unemployment
Historian Alexander Keyssar tells 20th Century Guy Brian Balogh how it came to be that only people actively “looking for work” are counted as unemployed.
19:00 – 19:59 STATION BREAK 1 (MUSIC BED)
20:00 – 38:59 SEG B
IC: This is Backstory, the show that looks to the past…
OC: ….We’ll be back in a minute.
20:00 – 25:11 Listener Call
BackStory listeners phone in with their questions about the history of unemployment in America.
25:12 - 28:55 Insider Jobs
The History Guys discuss the ways in which nativism and racism have shaped American attitudes about unemployment.
28:56 – 38:46 Life on the Skid Row
The History Guys listen to and then discuss a dramatized reading of an original piece of historical fiction about life for turn-of-the-century itinerant laborers in the Northwest
38:47 – 38:59 FUNDING CREDITS
39:00 – 39:59 STATION BREAK 2 (MUSIC BED)
40:00 – 59:00 SEG C
IC: This is Backstory, the show that looks to the past…
OC: …at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.
40:00 – 49:51 Listener Calls
More calls from BackStory listeners.
49:51 – 56:56 The Great Migration
19th Century Guy Ed Ayers discusses the Great Migration of African-Americans between 1915 and 1930, and plays a recording of one migrant who found life in the North wasn’t all he’d hoped it would be.
56:56 – 59:59 PRODUCTION/FUNDING CREDITS
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Jamie Stock
Posted on July 29, 2010 at 07:37 AM | Permalink
Very Nice
The format of the show was superb. I think government should stop spending billions of dollars in Iraq, Afghanistan. The money is getting sucked out of the country.